University Campus Suffolk

Small experimental works

Currently all my small scale mixed media works are taken from my first set of darker gloomier images. Some of them however are depicted lighter or more vibrant in my paintings. This tells me that I do have an attraction to the more vivid colour. I am however, as talked about in a previous post trying to control my use of colour and using more realistic colours. I have wanted to go out on brighter days and take more pictures to see the light and how the colours become more attractive to me.

What my small images perceive.

•A semi abstract approach to the landscape.

I am happy with the level of abstraction that my work has adopted over time. It references my relationship with the landscape, however has slight areas of misunderstanding. I am really enjoying working small scale because it is allowing me to add layers and build up texture as well as restrain from some areas for effect. I have then been adding pen detail when dry.

•Expressing an identity through colour, texture and shape.

I am still trying to find the middle between bold unrealistic colours and realistic with vibrancy.

•A mixed media method

Layering of textures and paint with

•Pen work to add slight detail

Adding different thickness pen into the images to complete small intimate detail

Hamish Fulton- Dissertation Links

The bold paragraphs of text are extracts taken from my dissertation.

Hamish Fulton is a walking artist whose articulations towards the natural environment are strongly influenced by the physical aspects of the walks he takes and the views that he perceives during particular journeys. Fulton refers to the maxim, “no walk, no work”. (Auping, M. 1987, p.37)

Hamish Fulton’s work is very process driven, using his body as a physical base to his work. He takes a photo physically projected from his body with a 360 degree range, from which a point of the perimeter has to be selected to photograph. The point, in which he chooses to photograph a particular point, is a result of his physical involvement with it. (Auping, M. 1987.p37)

“Fulton does not approach nature as ‘landscape’, in the traditional sense of a still image, but as a physical experience”. (Auping, M 1987.P.37)

Although Hamish Fulton’s Outcome of work is not something that really relates to my work, the subject matter and process is massively inspiring. The way in which he allows the natural environment to have affected his works is exciting. The digital outcome and statements of his work is something that is of less interest to me, it is more his unique ways of working which are why I am fascinated by him as an artist.

The natural environment is something that Fulton allows to have a massive influence on his work; this being the terrain and weather that often changes during his walks. These factors become crucial elements of chance where the work is determined by the length of the walk, the direction and the number of photographs that are taken as a result of this. (Auping, M. 1987 p.37) “My work is about nature and it seems proper to determine events en route”. (Auping, M, 1987, p.37)

My photographs have a certain amount of control in them. I choose to walk around and take pictures when I feel it will work or show differentiation. This aspect of Fulton’s work can show similarities in the way that the rain would affect his work just as much as the sun because it physically takes its effect by not allowing him to continue or not talking so many photos or opposing effect. For me the weather is physically taking effect on my work when documenting my experience in the studio, either with colour or light and texture.

Fulton is known for his repetitiveness of many routes on his walks. In an interview with Ben Tufnell, Fulton’s response to the question regarding the repetitiveness of walking was adamantly positive. “Yes, I’ve made several repeat walks on the same routes. Just as fast walks are very interesting so are walks that go over the same route every day.” (Fulton, H, N.D. Tufnell, B, 2002, p.109

This is something that I really am interested in. nature is always changing and something that Fulton sees one day he may not the next and therefore the things that he experiences are documenting in a very precise way in his works.

My process:

I have currently repeated my walk twice, taking photos when I feel I make that connection to the landscape. They show massive similarities however the light brightened up on set and I am now starting to look at the comparisons they depict and how my outcome differs.

Things to consider:

•Walking the same half an hour journey everyday- depicting it

•Write notes on what I see or think

•How the outcome changes

Kastner, J. (2012), Nature, London: Whitechapel gallery.

Mckibben, B,(2002). Hamish Fulton. First Edition. Tate Publishing

The paragraph below in bold is a few sentences taken from my dissertation. I am looking back and joining to my studio practice in areas where there are strong links.

English Critic, John Berger in ‘Ways of Seeing’ talks about how we see something before we speak or describe it. How every image embodies a way of seeing, it is a way of recreating or reproducing a sight. Strong relation can be made to how Fulton selects a point of the landscape, Berger talks about how we look at a photograph and consciously know that we are looking at a selected image within the surroundings. “Every time we look at a photograph, we are aware however slightly, of the photographer selecting that sight from an infinity of other possible sights”. (Berger, J, 1972, p.10)

This was a snip of my dissertation which I have found very interesting whilst walking and taking my photographs. I take the photographs from the attraction that I feel. As soon as I see something that interests me I stop and capture that particular moment. Working from the photograph then is recalling the memory and the feelings that I felt at a specific time.

In relation to John Berger’s statement regarding that the viewer is slightly aware of the other sights around that could have been depicted I have also started to think about this.

•Why do I take a picture facing a certain way?

•Why from a particular angle with the camera?

•Why do I zoom in on some parts of the landscape, and step back to capture more in others?

•Does the viewer view the images the same when they were not looking through the lens?

The lighting in my previous park images was dull and gloomy due to the weather. Recently I have taken another walk in the same area on a brighter day and captured some more images which are brighter and make the landscape comer across differently. This is because the light highlights certain areas and makes parts stand out which before all seemed to merge together in a gloomy glare. The shadows and reflections that the sun creates are also giving a much more exciting appearance.

The pictures on the right are some of the pictures that I took on the brighter day. The walk was repeated and I wanted to see some of the parts of the landscape I was attracted to with the different light. I wanted to see if I was attracted to different areas when the weather was nicer.

Did the weather have an alternate effect on my physical relationship with the landscape?

Berger, J. (1972) Ways of seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation; Penguin Books.

Here are some more of Gerhard Richters images that i am looking at and inspired from…

These painintgs are all taken from the Abstraktes Bild collection.

Abstraktes Bild

Abstraktes Bild was a second breakthrough of Richter’s of 1977. The collection was a substantial amount of colourful abstract works. These offered an energetic investigation into optics and perception, planes, depth, space, shape, form, colour and light, suggestive of everything from microscopic studies of matter through to scales evocative of the geological and cosmological.

http://www.gerhard-richter.com/biography/the-1970s-exploring-abstraction-6/?search=abstraktes+bild#abstraktes+bild

Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter has been an inspiration of mine since my abstract flare began during the second year collaboration project. I felt a prominence of bold colour and experimental lines throughout his work which really began to relate to my work. Richter still now is influencing my practice for similar reasons.

Attraction to Richter’s Work

· Colour

· Colour pallets

Colour is something that I absolutely adore when it comes to painting. Bright, bold and often irrelevant and unrealistic colour is a theme that has informed my practice over my artistic years. Over the past few months I have been trying to control my use of colour within my work and make sure that the work is a representation in my own way of what I see and am inspired by. This combined with my love for strong initiative colour is beginning to guide me in the right direction to find the middle and what does justice for my work. Richter’s work shows an insight of both colour groups, i.e. bright and extravagant, as well as toned down and earthly.

· Abstraction

The abstract feeling that comes across when looking at Richter’s work is sublime. You have to delve into the painting. The shapes he uses can be lines or sometimes more blurred shapes where the paint has just absorbed into the paper and merged together. Where Richter’s work takes a very abstract approach my work is still showing dominant features of the landscape with an edge of abstraction. The level I have currently found between realism and abstraction is where I would like to stay as I am really enjoying it. I am looking at the levels of abstraction in Richter’s work and his mark making techniques as i find it very interesting how he demonstrates diverse approaches.

· Colour integration

Allowing the colours to run together or merging them on top of each other whilst still wet is something that Richter seems to apply to his work. It often works to create something unique which hasn’t always been seen before. It is eye catching and inspires me to begin merging my colours together.

· Thickly layered paint

Thickly applied paint creating texture is something that I love to use in my work. This however has been overtaken by my small watercolour and acrylic sketchbook documentations which I have then been trying to create on a larger scale. I am trying to create the wash look and then bring in the thickly applied paint in places to create the texture. Some of his works have a flat appearance and some have a textured presence. The combination of the two is what I need to find.

· Dominant lines and shapes

Dominant lines and shapes in Richter’s work is what the eye is first drawn too. It creates the tone of the drawing and also the presence of the subject matter. The shapes in my work are forming the compositions and therefore seeing them continuously in Richter’s work is an inspiration to keep looking at the different forms and ways he creates them.

Gerhard Richter’s work is acting as an inspiration to me constantly for the reasons posted above. I will continue looking at him and questioning my own work in relation to these points along the way.

Questioning my own work

Why am I beginning to control the colour if it has always been a passion of mine?

Why is the level of abstraction that I want to create still a representation of my subject rather than complete abstraction?

What is it about colour integration that interests me, rather than a distinctive separation of colour?

Why are shapes and lines important to me in my work?